VIDEO: Crying children trying to escape a fire early Tuesday morning were dropped out of a third-story window and caught by Des Moines police officers.
The officers were assisting city firefighters with a blaze at an apartment complex at 3720 Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway early Tuesday. Heavy smoke prevented responders from reaching the third floor after getting the call at 3:14 a.m.
Lt. Rick Thomas, with the Des Moines Fire Department, said a mother dropped three of her children out of the window to police officers below.
"I got 'em, yup. Drop 'em," one officer is heard yelling over the sounds of sirens. "Keep goin'. I got 'em. I got 'em."
No children, firefighters or police officers were injured in the incident. Thomas said it is unknown how many people were in the building at the time of the fire.
Investigators are looking into the cause, but the room where the fire originated was too badly torched to immediately discern how the blaze started, Thomas said.